Cream Cheese Gingerbread Thumbprint Cookies

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Gingerbread overload? There's no such thing! These soft, chewy ginger-spiced thumbprints are filled with a tangy cream cheese icing for the ultimate holiday treat. A sprinkling of chopped crystallized ginger gives the cookies an added festive touch.

Bake, 1 sheet at a time, in 350°F oven until no longer shiny, about 12 minutes. Remove from oven; using rounded back of 1 tsp measure, gently press wells to reshape. Let cool on pans for 5 minutes; transfer directly to racks to cool completely.

Spiced Cream Cheese Icing: While cookies are cooling, in bowl, beat cream cheese with butter until fluffy; beat in molasses, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Beat in icing sugar until smooth. Spoon or pipe heaping 1 tsp of the icing into well of each cookie.

Garnish: Sprinkle icing with ginger. Refrigerate until icing is set, about 30 minutes. (Make-ahead: Refrigerate in airtight container for up to 3 days.)

Spinach and Artichoke Pissaldière

Pissalidière, a flaky pizza-like tart, is traditionally topped with onions, anchovies and, at times, tomatoes. Here, we've swapped out the anchovies for artichokes to make these bites even more crowd-pleasing, and we've added spinach for a stunning pop of colour.

Method

On parchment paper–lined rimless baking sheet, unroll 1 sheet of the pastry. Top with half each of the onion mixture, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes and spinach. On separate baking sheet, repeat with remaining pastry, onion mixture, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes and spinach. Bake, 1 sheet at time, in 425°F oven until edges are golden, 18 to 20 minutes. Cut each sheet into 16 squares.

Tip from The Test Kitchen: If the onion begins to stick to the skillet, add up to a tablespoon of water, a little at a time.

Vegetable Beef Noodle Soup

Hearty simmered beef, vegetables and noodles always make for a warm welcome home on a cool night. Cooking the noodles in the soup thickens the broth and gives the dish that "stick to your ribs" feeling. They do soak up some of the broth, though, so you may want to add a bit of water to any leftovers before reheating to make them soupy again.
Cost: $2.30/serving